Certified Meeting Professional - Correcting the Perception and Advocating the Strategic Importance of Certification

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At their recent bi-annual meeting, the CIC Board of Directors approved a new strategic plan for CIC focused on advocating the value of events, promoting excellence in professional practices and leveraging the power of collaborative and collective action.

The meeting industry's most influential and respected leaders together mapped out a three-year plan and outlined initiatives to advance the profession and seize new opportunities for growth not just in North America but globally. The initiatives are broken into three categories: promoting excellence through certification and accreditation programs, creating a global voice for industry issues through strong partnerships and insuring that industry partners, government and the public have access to research and information that supports the value of meetings.

CIC's expansion of its certification program and membership globally over the last decade, has further enhanced the impact CIC has on the global meetings industry. Even as we have translated that strategic vision into reality, it's sometimes difficult to keep perceptions consistent around the world. In fact, a recent article in Association Meetings International (AMI) demonstrated that perceptions become reality for some, and it is important to correct misperceptions.

The article was entitled "Do Clients Have a Clue About CMP?" The article cast an unfair and inaccurate perception of the Certified Meeting Professional program—a designation that has been achieved by more than 14,000 meeting professionals worldwide over its 27 years of existence, has more than 10,000 CMPs currently active in the profession and approximately 1500 pursuing the certification at any given time.

Despite these lofty numbers, the article quotes only nine people, most of whom did not have their CMP. Only one lone CMP voice spoke on our behalf, and CIC was never contacted for interview or comment. Most of the opinions were that the CMP meant nothing to them personally or to those who hire planners or PCOs. The article did not represent a fair sampling of experts whose opinions represent the thousands who have completed the CMP program, the thousands who haven't, and the many employers who subsidize the CMP for their employees.

Had they asked, we could have provided access to our extensive research that supports the CMP program, validates its value, shows why meeting professionals covet the designation, and explains why many prominent industry companies require their convention service and sales teams to obtain their CMP. Research completed in 2011 and 2012 showed that:

• 88.9 percent of CMPs find their certification important.
• 88.8 percent say they are satisfied with their certification.
• 86.8 percent seek their CMP to demonstrate professionalism.
• 73.4 percent seek CMP to improve their marketability.
• 50.9 percent seek CMP to advance their job or career.

The story notes that the CMP program is more familiar to the U.S. market. This is true, as it was started in the United States 27 years ago. However, as the most recognized and obtained certification in the world (other industry certifications do not come close to our numbers), the CMP has grown internationally, and we now have CMPs in 47 countries.

To meet that demand and to make the CMP content more global, CIC has spent significant resources over the past three years to make it more accessible to those outside the U.S. The move to computer-based testing this year was an important step, and every day we receive more and more requests from emerging meeting markets that know the CMP's value and reputation and want it for themselves.

The criticism we hear most often and that was perpetuated in this article, that the CMP is too North American to be of value to the rest of the world, is simply not true. The CMP assesses a candidate's knowledge of meeting management principles and competencies as determined by the CMP International Standard. These standards were developed through a job analysis by a panel of international meeting practitioners.

All of this, I pointed out to AMI in a letter to the editor. They responded with an acknowledgement that our letter had validity and perhaps they will publish it. We are ready and willing to give our perspective of the CMP supported by our data, and will be happy to provide CMPs to interview as well as employers who support their employees in pursuit of the CMP.

We need your help in spreading the good word about CMP as a credible global certification when others state it has no value. We will continue to make every effort to stay attuned to the needs of the industry and our CMPs and to make sure we are aligned with those needs. As always, we welcome your input.

Karen Kotowski, CAE, CMP